Mok - Haunt - Brighton - 14.9.13

Headlining at Brighton's 'The Haunt' on 14 September, Mok were on finest form, taking the almost full house through a barnstorming one hour set which left everyone wanting more. For me, the highlight was the mid-set mash-up featuring kick-lines from the likes of The Prodigy and Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog' - bought tears to my eyes, it did! New songs 'On the run', 'Slow motion' and 'Massage Baby?' combined with old faves like 'Rufio' and 'Dragon' builds Mok's repertoire to formiddable levels. Rockon Mokrok. More of the same please!

 

 

Vinyl Revival

I have at last rescued my turntable from the loft so that I can re-discover some of my vinyl gems. Most of the discs need a really good dust-off, but the pleasure of that crackle and pop is an audio joy. Co-incidentally I find that two of my good friends have recently done the same. Something of a vinyl revival going on here!

 

One of my first digitisations is this rarity - '2 Faced' from No Dice. Released in 1979, it was the band's second album. Nine tracks of R&B brilliance, particularly 'Come Dancing' and 'If you had nothing'. 'Come Dancing' is up there in my top fifty tracks of all time.

 

Unfortnately though, the album was trashed by the music press at the time which was a death knoll for the band. There would be no follow-up and no digital pressings. No Dice folded a couple of years later.

 

This matters naught to me of course - '2 faced' remains a brilliant album - excellent on vinyl but now, thanks to my CD recorder, digitised to CD and MP3.

A feelgood day

Took a trip to Leigh-on-Sea on 29 August to see some good friends. Whilst there, Richard Baxter took me to the Lee Brilleaux bench - a proud moment indeed. Earlier - whilst having lunch in Old Leigh, Wilco Johnson walked by. All in all - a bit of a 'feelgood' day!

 

Where words fail, music speaks

This is the cover of a CD compilation I put together for a Swiss gentleman recently who had no knowledge or experience of popular music culture. Full stop! A real challenge on the track choice, but here's what I included - Deep Purple: Smoke on the Water, En Vogue : Free your mind, Stevie Wonder : Superstition, Neil Young: After the Goldrush, The Zombies: She's not there, Talking Heads: Once in a lifetime, The Beatles: She loves you, The Rolling Stones: Brown Sugar, Led Zeppelin: Whole lotta love, The Beat: Twist n Crawl, Michael Jackson: Billie Jean, Johnny Cash: Personal Jesus, Emili Sande: Clown, Blur: Parklife, Suzanne Vega: Marlene on the wall, Cat Stevens: Moonshadow, Lulu: Shout, Paulo Nutini: Pencil full of lead, David Bowie: The man who sold the world, and Free: All Right Now. A sad testament for a 30-year old, but my hope is that this will go some way to setting things right! "Where words fail, music speaks" is a quote from Hans Christian Anderson. Words failed me at the admission, so I'll just let the music speak. It's always worked for me!

R.I.P. Bobby Bland

aka 'The Lion of the Blues'

27 January 1930 to 23 June 2013

JemsMusic A-Z

26 days in April - 26 bands - 26 tunes

A - Apollo 440 - Krupa

B - Bad Company - She brings me love

C - Camel - Sahara

D - Death in Vegas - All that glitters

E - Evanescence - Whisper

F - Franz Ferdinand - Michael

G - Gov't Mule - Brighter Day

H - Hawkwind - You shouldn't do that

I - I am Kloot - From your favourite sky

J - Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath

K - Kings of Leon - Red Morning Light

L - Little River Band - It's a long way there

M - Mika - Grace Kelly

N - New Order - Blue Monday

O - One Minute Silence - I wear my skin

P - Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Music for a found harmonium

Q - Quantic Soul Orchestra - Hold it down

R - Red Snapper - Some kind of fink

S - Sad Cafe - My oh My (see vid above)

T - Ten Years After - I'm going home

U - Underworld - Pearl's Girl

V - Vinegar Joe - Never met a dog

W - Walking Papers - Already Dead

X - XTC - Mechanic Dancing

Y - Yello - Oh Yeah

Z - ZZ Top - Fuzzbox Voodoo



31 days, 31 genres, 31 songs: Part III

OK - here's the final part of this series and the song choices for days 17 through 31.

[17] 2-TONE: The Beat's 'Twist & Crawl' [18] MOTOWN: Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' [19] GRUNGE: Nirvana's 'Smells like teen spirit' [20] AMERICANA: Shovels & Rope's 'Hail Hail [21] BRITISH INVASION (1st wave): Rolling Stones 'Get off of my cloud' [22] CHRISTIAN ROCK: Delirious? 'My Glorious' [23] CLASSIC ROCK: Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the water' [24] SOUL: Marvin Gaye's 'I heard it through the grapevine' [25] ROCK N ROLL: Little Richard's 'Good Golly Miss Molly' [26] RAP/INDIE: Mok's 'Rufio' (released 26.3.13) [Mok Shop pic above from their merc store at the Haunt - 28.3.13] [27] FUNK/SOUL: James Brown's 'Get up offa dat thing' [28] GARAGE ROCK (1st wave): The Troggs 'Wild Thing' [29] GLAM ROCK: The Sweet's 'Ballroom Blitz' [30] SAMBA: Carlinhos de Cuica's 'Tia Doca' and [31] ZYDECO: Clifton Chenier's 'Louisiana Blues'

 

Stop press - starting on 5 April only on Facebook (and here) 'JemsMusic A-Z'. 26 songs from 26 bands over 26 letters in 26 days